Should I ship a Roman RPG?
RPG + Rome
Only 19 developers shipped a Roman RPG in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, Bloodgrounds, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 43 more are announced, ×3.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.6k, ×7.4 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.8k; 1 in 20 cleared $330k, ×536 the market median. Revenue is up 1960% on the market; 43 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.8k (exactly $1,799) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.6k (exactly $4,641) |
| Top 25% | $91k (exactly $91,408) |
| Top 5% | $336k (exactly $336,432) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 19 |
| Released games | 58 |
| Announced | 43 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
momentum: how a niche's revenue percentiles and developer count moved between two equal, adjacent periods, divided by the market's own move. See method., 12 months: revenue up 1960% on the market, supply 180% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 7%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- RPG; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Management, Perma Death, Turn-Based
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Pixel Graphics, Story Rich
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 80% positive over 2,737 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.8k. 8 in 10 of the 6 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 43 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
RPG with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + IdlerFair
- + Boss RushFair
- + SportsFair
- + Combat RacingFair
- + Split ScreenFair
- + Precision PlatformerFair
- + SamuraiPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + 4XPoor odds
- + MinigamesPoor odds
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
Comparable games
Assassin’s Creed® Brotherhood 2011 · $15M 
Ryse: Son of Rome 2014 · $11M 
The Forgotten City 2021 · $8.4M 
Expeditions: Rome 2022 · $7.0M 
We Who Are About To Die 2022 · EA · $5.4M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Assassin’s Creed® Brotherhood | older | $19.99 | 24,958 88% | 749k | $15M (exactly $14,967,313) | Ubisoft Montreal |
| | Ryse: Son of Rome | older | $9.99 | 38,308 87% | 1.1M | $11M (exactly $11,480,908) | Crytek |
| | The Forgotten City | older | $24.99 | 11,159 96% | 335k | $8.4M (exactly $8,365,902) | Modern Storyteller |
| | Expeditions: Rome | older | $44.99 | 5,156 86% | 155k | $7.0M (exactly $6,959,053) | Logic Artists |
| | We Who Are About To Die | · EA older | $21.99 | 8,134 88% | 244k | $5.4M (exactly $5,366,000) | Jordy Lakiere |
 | Asterigos: Curse of the Stars | older | $34.99 | 2,550 78% | 77k | $2.7M (exactly $2,676,735) | Acme Gamestudio |
 | The Age of Decadence | older | $14.99 | 3,582 82% | 107k | $1.6M (exactly $1,610,825) | Iron Tower Studio |
 | Slaves of Rome | older | $24.99 | 1,924 73% | 58k | $1.4M (exactly $1,442,423) | Biggus Diccus Games |
 | A Legionary's Life | older | $7.99 | 2,463 87% | 74k | $590k (exactly $590,381) | Alessandro Roberti |
 | Bloodgrounds | $19.99 | 561 77% | 17k | $336k (exactly $336,432) | Exordium Games | |
 | Never Second in Rome | $12.99 | 637 81% | 19k | $248k (exactly $248,239) | Alessandro Roberti | |
 | Gods of Sand | $9.99 | 720 86% | 22k | $216k (exactly $215,784) | Achenar Studios | |
 | Empire of Lust 🏛 | $14.99 | 254 67% | 7.6k | $114k (exactly $114,224) | Carnality INC | |
 | Trakonius | · EA | $9.99 | 305 84% | 9.2k | $91k (exactly $91,408) | Edvar Studio |
 | Fall of an Empire | $29.99 | 80 67% | 2.4k | $72k (exactly $71,976) | JG Games | |
 | Rise of a Legend | · EA | $17.99 | 49 77% | 1.5k | $26k (exactly $26,445) | Masquarade, Nicholas St. Germain |
 | Wings of Empire | · EA | $14.99 | 49 87% | 1.5k | $22k (exactly $22,035) | Droid Productions |
 | Long Live Caesar | $9.99 | 51 78% | 1.5k | $15k (exactly $15,285) | Yury Khovansky, Vladislavs Viktorovs | |
 | BRUTUS MAXIMUS | $4.99 | 31 64% | 930 | $4.6k (exactly $4,641) | SuperStructureGames |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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